Connect with us

Published

on

More than half of UK adults, including nearly 40% of 2019 Tory voters, still think the party should return the £10m it has received from donor Frank Hester following his comments about Diane Abbott MP, fresh polling shared with Sky News shows.

Research by Savanta also reveals that two-thirds of Conservative voters believe Mr Hester’s remarks about the former Labour MP were racist – a figure that rises to 70% for the wider public.

Savanta surveyed 2,149 UK adults aged over 18 online from 15-17 March, when the Conservatives were fully engulfed in the row over Mr Hester, who is reported to have said Ms Abbott made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.

Mr Hester has since said he is “deeply sorry” for his remarks, but that they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.

Ms Abbott, who remains suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party, hit out at the “level of racism that is still in Britain” following the row, saying Mr Hester’s remarks showed how “black women are disrespected”.

Since the reports emerged, Rishi Sunak has resisted pressure to return the £10m Mr Hester is known to have donated to the Conservatives last year, despite saying Mr Hester’s comments were “racist” and “wrong”.

Politics latest:
Tory candidate defects to Reform – as Farage’s party gains in poll

The prime minister’s admission came after Downing Street and several ministers initially refused to say whether the remarks were racist – saying only that they were “wrong”.

Mr Sunak has also refused to confirm whether a further £5m from Mr Hester is in the pipeline – Sky News understands the party is “in talks” about the additional cash.

Earlier this week Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who was the first cabinet minister to say the remarks were “racist”, insisted the government had “drawn a line” under the row and shouldn’t have to give back the money he donated.

“I think if somebody has apologised and the comments appear to have been first of all very flippant, said a long time ago, I think it is fine for us to be able to accept and forgive and draw a line under it,” she told Sky News.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Badenoch thinks the Conservatives should keep the donations

But the Savanta polling found 54% of UK adults think the Conservatives should return Mr Hester’s £10m donation, including 39% of 2019 Conservative voters.

Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta, told Sky News: “The government’s original line in response to Frank Hester’s comments about Diane Abbott was that they were rude but not racist.

“Our research suggests that the public disagrees, including their own voters.

“Leading Conservatives, including the prime minister, have attempted to draw a line under the saga and any future donations from Hester.

“But the majority of the public say they want to see his reported £10m donation returned. That’s the short-term problem.”

Mr Hopkins added: “Longer-term, nearly half of all UK adults believe that racism is widespread in the Conservative Party.

“That is a major electoral and moral challenge for a party that has traditionally struggled with ethnic minority voters.”

Read more:
Chief civil servant resigns from men-only Garrick Club
Parts of libel case against Matt Hancock struck out

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “The comments allegedly made by Frank Hester were racist and wrong. He has now rightly apologised for the offence caused and where remorse is shown it should be accepted.

“The prime minister is clear there is no place for racism in public life and as the first British-Asian prime minister leading one of the most ethnically diverse Cabinets in our history, the UK is living proof of that fact.”

Continue Reading

Politics

US DOJ requests 20-year sentence for Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky

Published

on

By

US DOJ requests 20-year sentence for Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky

US DOJ requests 20-year sentence for Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky

Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, faces a 20-year prison sentence as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking a severe penalty for his fraudulent activity.

The US DOJ on April 28 filed the government’s sentencing memorandum against Mashinsky, recommending a 20-year prison sentence due to his fraudulent actions leading to multibillion-dollar losses by Celsius customers.

The 97-page memo mentioned that Celsius users were unable to access approximately $4.7 billion in crypto assets after the platform halted withdrawals on June 12, 2022.

“The Court should sentence Alexander Mashinsky to twenty years’ imprisonment as just punishment for his years-long campaign of lies and self-dealing that left in its wake billions in losses and thousands of victimized customers,” the DOJ stated.

Mashinsky’s personal benefit was $48 million

In addition to listing massive investor losses resulting from the Celsius fraud, the DOJ mentioned that Mashinsky has personally profited from the fraudulent schemes in his role.

As part of his plea in December 2024, Mashinsky admitted that he was the leader of the criminal activity at Celsius, that his crimes resulted in losses in excess of $550 million, and that he personally benefited more than $48 million, the authority said.

US DOJ requests 20-year sentence for Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky
An excerpt from the government’s sentencing memorandum against Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky. Source: CourtListener

The DOJ emphasized that Mashinsky’s guilty plea showed that his crimes were “not the product of negligence, naivete, or bad luck,” but rather the result of “deliberate, calculated decisions to lie, deceive, and steal in pursuit of personal fortune.”

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26

Continue Reading

Politics

Russian ruble stablecoin: Exec lists 7 ‘Tether replica’ features

Published

on

By

Russian ruble stablecoin: Exec lists 7 ‘Tether replica’ features

Russian ruble stablecoin: Exec lists 7 ‘Tether replica’ features

The concept of a Russian ruble stablecoin received special attention at a major local crypto event, the Blockchain Forum in Moscow, with key industry executives reflecting on some of the core features a ruble-backed stablecoin might require.

Sergey Mendeleev, founder of the digital settlement exchange Exved and inactive founder of the sanctioned Garantex exchange, put forward seven key criteria for a potential “replica of Tether” in a keynote at the Blockchain Forum on April 23.

Mendeleev said a potential ruble stablecoin must have untraceable transactions and allow transfers without Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.

However, because one of the criteria also requires the stablecoin to comply with Russian regulations, he expressed skepticism that such a product could emerge soon.

The DAI model praised 

Mendeleev proposed that a potential Russian “Tether replica” must be overcollateralized similarly to the Dai (DAI) stablecoin model, a decentralized algorithmic stablecoin that maintains its one-to-one peg with the US dollar using smart contracts.

“So, any person who buys it will understand that the contract is based on the assets that super-securitize it, not somewhere on some unknown accounts, but free to be checked by simple crypto methods,” he said.

Russian ruble stablecoin: Exec lists 7 ‘Tether replica’ features
Source: Cointelegraph

Another must-have feature should be excess liquidity on both centralized and decentralized exchanges, Mendeleev said, adding that users must be able to exchange the stablecoin at any time they need.

According to Mendeleev, a viable ruble-pegged stablecoin also needs to offer non-KYC transactions, so users are not required to pass their data to start using it.

“The Russian ruble stablecoin should have the opportunity where people use it without disclosing their data,” he stated.

Related: Russia’s central bank, finance ministry to launch crypto exchange

In the meantime, users should be able to earn interest on holding the stablecoin, Mendelev continued, adding that offering this feature is available via smart contracts.

Russia opts for centralization

Mendeleev also suggested that a potential Russian version of Tether’s USDt (USDT) would need to feature untraceable and cheap transactions, while its smart contracts should not enable blocks or freezes.

The final criterion is that a potential ruble stablecoin would have to be regulated in accordance with the Russian legislation, which currently doesn’t look promising, according to Mendeleev.

Russia, KYC, Fiat Money, Tether, Stablecoin, Policy
Sergey Mendeleev at the Blockchain Forum in Moscow. Source: Bits.Media

“Once we put these seven points together […] then it would be a real alternative, which would help us at least compete with the solutions that are currently on the market,” he stated at the conference, adding:

“Unfortunately, from the point of view of regulation, we are currently going in the absolutely opposite direction […] We are going in the direction of absolute centralization, not in the direction of liberalization of laws, but consolidation of prohibitions.”

Possible solutions

While the regulatory side is not looking good, a potential Russian version of USDT is technically feasible, Mendeleev told Cointelegraph.

“Except for anonymous transactions, everything is easy to implement and has already been deployed by several projects, but it’s just not unified in one project yet,” he said.

The crypto advocate specifically referred to interesting opportunities by projects like the ruble-pegged A7A5 stablecoin, unblockable contracts at DAI, and others.

Related: Russian crypto exchange Mosca raided amid cash-to-crypto ban talks

Regulation is necessary but not enough, Mendeleev said, adding that the most difficult part is the trust of users who must see the ruble stablecoin as a viable alternative to major alternatives like USDT.

Recent reports suggest that the deputy head of Russia’s Finance Ministry’s financial policy department urged the government to develop ruble stablecoins.

Elsewhere, the Bank of Russia has continued to progress its central bank digital currency project, the digital ruble. According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the digital ruble is scheduled to be rolled out for commercial banks in the second half of 2025.

Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26

Continue Reading

Politics

Trump or Carney – will Starmer have to choose?

Published

on

By

Trump or Carney – will Starmer have to choose?

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈

The morning political podcast which gives you all need for the day ahead in 20 minutes, usually with Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy.

But, for this episode, Anne is somewhere over the Atlantic travelling back from the US so Sam is joined by Politico’s Tim Ross.

Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has won the Canadian election. It’ll give Keir Starmer a centre-left ally at G7 but how will the PM position himself now in the Trump-Carney standoff?

Elsewhere, with political leaders out and about in Bristol, Scunthorpe, South Cambridgeshire and Wiltshire – there are plenty of clues about the biggest target seats in the last 48 hours before local election voting.

To find lists of candidates in all the local elections, you can search here: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/your-election-information

Continue Reading

Trending